Maietta businesses must pay federal fine, perform $850K of land restoration in Scarborough
Courtesy / U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Fill on and near the wetlands will result in approximately $850,000 worth of wetland restoration.
A group of related companies in Scarborough has agreed to perform wetland restoration and pay a fine as the result of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice allegations that the companies illegally filled wetlands on a 22-acre site in Scarborough, in violation of the federal Clean Water Act.
Under a proposed consent decree, Maietta Enterprises Inc., Maietta Construction Inc. and M7 Land Co. LLC will perform approximately $850,000 worth of wetland restoration and mitigation and pay a $25,000 penalty, according to a news release.
Starting in the 1960s, the companies continuously used the site as a material staging and reprocessing area for Maietta Construction Inc.’s earthwork operations. Maietta Construction filled approximately 10 wetland acres falling under the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act on the site. Prior to disturbance, the wetlands were mainly forested freshwater wetlands with a mixture of coniferous and hardwood trees and were adjacent to a tributary to the Spurwink River, which runs through the Rachael Carson National Wildlife Refuge.
Maietta Enterprises was the former owner of the site. In 2011, it merged with M7 Properties LLC, which is the current owner of the site.
The restoration will involve removing fill and restoring about five acres of previously forested wetlands, creating a plant buffer between areas of remaining fill and restored areas, restoring and enhancing 1.2 wetland acres by managing invasive species and removing fill, mitigating some 7.7 adjacent acres of forested wetlands, in part by plugging drainage ditches and managing invasive species, and establishing a 14.5-acre conservation easement to preserve the wetlands in perpetuity.
“Protecting wetlands is important because these ecological areas provide valuable functions such as protecting and improving water quality, and helping to buffer floods and major storm events,” EPA New England Acting Regional Administrator Deborah Szaro said in the release. “When we lose wetlands, our communities lose resources that feed the rivers, lakes and streams we depend on to provide sources of food, transportation, and recreational opportunities.”
The proposed consent decree was filed in federal District Court in Portland on May 14. The settlement agreement is subject to a 30-day public comment period and court approval.
Maietta Construction was founded in 1967 and today has over 130 employees commercial and residential construction, according to its website. The company primarily does excavation and earth-moving work.
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